Vehicle wheel with demountable felly



Oct. 3l, 1950 J. w. MYNssx-:N 2,528,163

VEHICLE WHEEL WITH DEMOUNTABLE FELLY Filed Aug. 27, 1945 Patented Oct. 31, 1950 VEHICLE WHEEL WITH DEMOUNTABLE FELLY Jacob Willem Mynssen, Schaffhouse, Switzerland, assignor to Aktiengesellschaft der Eisenund Stahlwerke vormals Georg Fischer, Schaffhouse, Switzerland Application August 27, 1945, Serial No. 612,811 In Switzerland January 28, 1944 Section 1, Public Law 690, August 8, 1946 Patent expires January 28, 1964 11 Claims. 1

Various forms of vehicle wheels comprising aV demountable felly are known, in which the latter is at least partially split transversely and at one point at least of its circumference; and which is supported on the Wheel disc or spider in a plane displaced, laterally of its median plane, into proximity of a felly ilange. In such wheels tilting moments are brought to act upon the felly due to the wheel load, which are transmitted onto the felly fastening means secured to the wheel body. Said tilting moments, on the other hand, tend to have the felly butt ends pressed against each other with great force at their split point or points. When such a wheel, mounted by a tire, rolls under load on the road, the felly butt faces on that side which is not supported by the wheel body, that is, the felly flange which is remote from the supporting plane of the wheel disc or spider, do not remain entirely immovable with respect to each other, but undergo slight movements which may produce an undesired wear of the felly butt faces when the felly, e. g., is made of a light metal alloy. In order to eliminate this objectionable feature, the butt ends of light metal fellies have been reinforced, e. g., by steel plating or by a harder metal coating sprayed thereon. Such measures, however, are not satisfactory in all parts.

The present invention relates to a wheel with demountable felly of the class referred to, in which a self-supporting detachable stay ring is provided for supporting the cantilevered split felly portions. The main object of my improvement is to relieve the butt ends of the felly segments and thus prevent any undue wear thereof. I attain this and related objects by the felly and felly stay ring shown, in two embodiments, in the accompanying drawing, in which Fig. 1 shows a side View of a detachable threesegment split felly;

Fig. 2 a radial felly section, in larger scale, on line II-II of Fig. l, and a peripheral portion of the wheel disc or spider on which the demountable felly is supported and secured by -proper means;

Fig. 3 a second embodiment of the invention in radial section and including a peripheral wheelspider portion on which the demountable felly is supported and secured by appropriate means;

Fig. 4 a radial section, at right angles to the wheel axle, of one form of joint of a split stay ring;

Fig. 5 a partial side View of a second form of split stay ring;

Fig. 6 a radial section of stay ring and appurtenant felly flange, including means for securing the ring to the felly ilange; and

Fig. 7 is a cross-sectional view partly broken away illustrating a further embodiment in which the stay ring is of angle shape in cross-section.

The three segments 4-6 of the felly I are integral parts, i. e. not subdivided in cross section (Fig. 2). The felly I is of trough-form and comprises two flanges 2 and 3 curved upwardly and outwardly to form a horn or overhang I2. The said Vflanges secure the beads of the tire (not shown) against an axial displacement. The felly is provided with a skew seat 'I on its inner bot-- tom circumference which is abutting against andI supported by a similar skew seat of the wheeldisc or spider 8. The felly segments are detachably secured to the disc 8 by means of bolts and nuts 9 through the intermediary of clamping washers I0.

The flange 2, that is the cantilevered felly, flange bears on a tubular stay ring II. The latter, shown here as being of circular section, is a self supporting integral structureY closed all` around, and'is closely engaged against the inner arch of the felly horn I2, that is the latter overhangs the stay ring by a certain rise I3 (Fig. 2)

and secures the stay ring against axial displacement. The rise I3 is so dimensioned that the closed stay ring II may be sprung into and outof engagement with the felly horn I2 by slightly expanding the diameter of the felly I. The diameter of the ring II is made such as to permit of. keeping the butt faces I4 of the felly segments slightly separated. This latter feature prevents any forces acting radially and inwardly upon thefelly segments from being transmitted upon the butt faces I4 thereof, and thus prevents a wear of the latter.

In the embodiment shown in Fig. 3, which is a section at the felly split, the felly bottom I5 is made integral with one side flange I5, and this felly portion is split transversely at one point only. The second side llange I1 of the demountable felly is made in the form of a closed ring structure adapted to engage a groove Iof the felly bottom I5. By decreasing the diameter of the latter, the said felly part I5, It may be sprung,

in a manner known per se, into engagement with the ring flange II. A ring abutment'having a skew seat I9 is provided onrthe inner'bottom periphery of the felly bottom I5 in proximity to the groove I8. The said abutment is supported on a correspondingly adapted skew face of the wheel disc 20 and secured thereto `by means of bolts and nuts 2| and clamping washers 22. -A closed tubular ring 23 fits snugly against the inner curve of the felly horn 2l, the latter being remote from the skew face I9, and partly encircling the outer periphery of the ring 23 so that same is radially engaged by a certain amount 24 and thereby secured against axial displacement. The rise 24 is made just of such size as to permit of springing the closed stay ring 23 into and out of engagement with the felly horn 2T by slightly expanding the diameter of the latter. The stay-ring diameter is made such that the. butt faces at the split of the felly horn 21 do not contact each other. Angle lugs 25 are welded to the stay ring 23, the legs 26 of which are provided with bores engaged by studs 28 which are anchored in the felly flange I6. The lugs 25 26 are secured in position on the latter by means of split pins 29 mounted in the studs 28. The device 25-29 serves as additional safety measure for preventing an axial displacement of the stay ring 23.

In the embodiments described, the stay rings ll and 23 are closed structures. Other embodiments (Figs. 4 and 5) may comprise transversely split rings, the butt faces of such a split ring contacting each other, and wherein care must be taken to peripherally stagger the stay-ring split and a felly split. In the case of a split stay ring, the rise I3 or 24 may be increased.

In the form of split stay ring ila shown in Fig. 4, which shows the joint in median section, the tube ends are suitably plugged and capped by the male and female members 30a and 30h respectively, so as to reduce the specic surface bearing pressure on the butt faces.

In the form of joint shown in Fig. 5, the butt faces of the split stay ring l lb are secured against lateral displacement bythe plug latch 3l loaded by the spring 32 which abuts against the bolt 33. The position of the latch 3l relative to the joint is governed by the position of the set screw 34 in the slot llc. In the position shown, the joint is aligned, and the stay ring IIb mounted on the felly flange. Y

Instead of circular cross section, the stay ring ll or 23 may be of any other cross section. In Fig. 6 a tubular ring 23a, which is provided with flattened sides, is secured against axial displacement or circumferential creeping by means of screw pins 34. The pin head is engaged in a bore of the felly horn 21a, and the threaded portion of the shank is secured against rotation by the spring 35 bearing on the said head.

The present invention is not limited to stal7 rings supporting the felly horn, but also affords a means for supporting the inner periphery of the felly bottom in proximity of one or the other side flange by means of a stay ring of angle section, which is suitably secured against axial displacement, e. g. by means shown in Fig. 3 or 6.

As shown in Fig. 7 the stay ring may be of angular cross-section, one of its legs 36 supporting the felly bottom l and the other leg 31 supporting the felly flange I6. Studs 38 secured in the felly flange I6' and split pins 39 serve for securing the stay ring in position.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

I. Vehicle wheel comprising a wheel body and a demountable felly provided with anges near its edges, said felly being split transversely at at least one point and being circumferentially supported on said Wheel body in a plane disposed in Y proximity of one of the felly anges, a, demountable self-supporting stay-ring for securely supporting the other felly flange which is remote from said supporting plane, and means provided on said last mentioned felly iiange for securing said stay-ring against axial displacement.

2. Vehicle wheel having a demountable felly according to claim 1, and in which the stray ring is in the form oi a circumferentially closed structure.

3. Vehicle wheel having a demountable felly according to claim 1 and in which the stay-ring is transversely split.

4. Vehicle wheel with demountable felly according to claim 1, and in which the stay ring for the felly flange which is remote from said supporting plane is of hollow section.

5. Vehicle wheel with demountable felly according to claim 1 and means detachably engaging the felly ange which is remote from said supporting plane and the stay-ring for the purpose of preventing a circumierentlal creeping or said ringl 6.V Vehicle wheel with demountable felly according to claim 1, and in which the stay-ring securing means comprises a, iiange-horn which overlaps the outer circumference of the stay-ring.

7. Vehicle wheel with demountable felly according to claim 1, and in which the stay ring is of split hollow section, a horn on the felly-flange remote from the supporting plane forgripping of said ring and circumierentially overlapping same, and a spring-loaded latch disposed at one end of the split ring the other end of said ring having a recess in which said latch engages for the purpose of aligning the joint butt faces of the ring.

8. Vehicle Wheel with demountable felly according to claim l, and in which the stay-ring has a split hollow section, a felly horn circumferentially overlapping and gripping the stayring, plug means capping the stay-ring joint faces and abutting each other for the purpose of aligning the said faces and for reducing the specific bearing pressure acting on the latter.

9. Vehicle 'Wheel with demountable felly according to claim l, and in which the profile of the stay-ring is of angle section, one leg of the latter supporting the felly bottom and the other supporting the felly ange.

10. Vehicle wheel with demountable felly according to claim l, and in which angle lugs are disposed circumferentially on the outside of the elly flange which is remote from the plane of support for the purpose of additionally securing the stay-ring against an outward axial displacement, one leg of said lugs being welded to the stay ring inner periphery and the other. leg being detachably secured to the said ielly flange.

11. In a vehicle wheel according to claim 1,l

JACOB WILLEM MYNssEN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Name Date Mijnssen Dec. 29, 1936 Number 

